This invention relates to loudspeaker concealment systems, and more particularly to simulated book enclosures for facilitating the visual concealment of loudspeakers.
Music and audiovisual entertainment systems, for home or office, include at least one (and often as many as five or more) audio channels each of which require a loudspeaker for full audio enjoyment. Many persons find typical loudspeakers to be visually obtrusive and/or not compatible with a particular decor. Such persons desire to enjoy the accurate reproduction of music and home theater audio, but they do not want their living and work spaces to look like the sound rooms of their local audio dealers.
A popular speaker is the so-called bookshelf speaker in which one or more loudspeakers are housed in a cabinet, generally designed for being situated on a bookshelf. Speaker cabinets are of boxlike configuration of generally rectangular sides, and contain at least one loudspeaker (typically a mid-range speaker, a tweeter and/or a woofer) forwardly facing and which may be covered by a substantially rectangular grille of sound transmissible fabric. The perceived obtrusiveness of bookshelf speakers arranged around a room, whether on bookshelves or on furniture or mounted on walls, has resulted in various devices for concealing such speakers from direct view.
The present invention employs a modular approach for concealing a loudspeaker, in which frame modules simulating books are juxtaposed for forming a housing for the speaker. The housing appears as a row or stack of books, and the quantity of frame modules or simulated books may be adjusted for accommodating speakers of different widths or heights.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, apparatus is provided for concealing a loudspeaker, such apparatus comprising the combination of: a generally rectangular individual first frame having a forward wall representing the spine of a first book, a rear wall representing the fore-edges of the leaves of the first book, a top wall representing the top edges of the leaves of the first book, a bottom wall representing the bottom edges of the leaves of the first book, and a left side wall representing the back cover of the first book; a generally rectangular individual second frame having a forward wall representing the spine of a second book, a rear wall representing the fore-edges of the leaves of the second book, a top wall representing the top edges of the leaves of the second book, a bottom wall representing the bottom edges of the leaves of the second book, and a right side wall representing the front cover of the second book; at least one generally rectangular individual third frame, each of the at least one third frame having a sound-transmissible forward wall representing the spine of another book, a rear wall representing the fore-edges of the leaves of the other book, a top wall representing the top edges of the leaves of the other book, and a bottom wall representing the bottom edges of the leaves of the other book; the individual frames adapted to be juxtaposed with the at least one third frame between the first frame and the second frame to form a housing for the loudspeaker. The outer surface of the forward wall of each of the at least one third frame is covered with a sound transmissible fabric for simulating the spine of the other book, and the forward wall of each of the first and second frames is covered with fabric for simulating the spines of the first and second books. The outer surfaces of the top, rear and bottom walls of each of the first and second frames, and of each of the at least one third frame, may be decorated to simulate the leaves of the first, second and other books, which decoration may take the form of a fabric covering. The outer surface of the side walls of each of the first and second frames are preferably covered with fabric for simulating the back cover of the first book and the front cover of the second book.
According to one aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for concealing a loudspeaker comprises the combination of: a plurality of generally rectangular first frames each having a sound transmissible forward wall simulating the spine of a book, a top wall and a bottom wall each perpendicularly extending from the second wall, and a rear wall parallel to the forward wall, each of the first frames including an opening within the boundaries of the walls, the frames adapted to be juxtaposed with the openings aligned to form a housing for the loudspeaker. The apparatus preferably further includes: a generally rectangular second frame having a forward wall simulating the spine of another book, a top wall and a bottom wall each perpendicularly extending from the forward wall, a rear wall parallel to the forward wall, and a right side wall simulating the front cover of the other book, the second frame including an opening within the boundaries of the forward, top, rear and bottom walls of the second frame, the second frame adapted to be juxtaposed with the first frames with the openings aligned to form the housing. The apparatus preferably additionally includes a generally rectangular third frame having a forward wall simulating the spine of a further book, a top wall and a bottom wall each perpendicularly extending from the forward wall, a rear wall parallel to the forward wall, and a left side wall simulating the back cover of the further book, the third frame including an opening within the boundaries of the forward, top, rear and bottom walls of the third frame, the third frame adapted to be juxtaposed with the first frames and with the openings aligned to form the housing. The third frame may also be juxtaposed with the first frames between the second and third frames and with the openings aligned to form the housing.
According to another aspect of the present invention, apparatus for concealing a loudspeaker comprises the combination of: a first frame having a generally rectangular opening, the first frame including a forward wall representing the spine of a first book and a left side wall closing the opening; a second frame having a generally rectangular opening, the second frame including a forward wall representing the spine of a second book and a right side wall representing the front cover of the second book closing the opening; at least one third frame, each of the at least one third frame having a generally rectangular opening and a sound transmissible forward wall representing the spine of another book; the frames adapted to be juxtaposed with the at least one third frame between the first frame and the second frame and with the openings aligned to form a housing for the loudspeaker. The first frame preferably includes a top wall representing the top edges of the leaves of the first book; the second frame preferably includes a top wall representing the top edges of the leaves of the second book; and each of the at least one third frame preferably includes a top wall representing the top edges of the leaves of the other book. The first frame of such apparatus preferably includes a rear wall representing the fore-edges of the leaves of the first book and a bottom wall representing the bottom edges of the leaves of the first book; the second frame preferably includes a rear wall representing the fore-edges of the leaves of the second book, and a bottom wall representing the bottom edges of the leaves of the second book; and the at least one third frame preferably includes a rear wall representing the fore-edges of the leaves of the other book, and a bottom wall representing the bottom edges of the leaves of the other book. The frames are preferably generally rectangular.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of concealing a loudspeaker comprising: providing a plurality of intermediate frames each having a rectangular opening and simulating the spine and leaf edges of a book; and juxtaposing the plurality of intermediate frames with their openings aligned to form a tunnel for containing the loudspeaker. The method further includes: providing the loudspeaker; and placing the loudspeaker in the tunnel.
According to another aspect of the invention, the method of concealing a loudspeaker comprises: providing a left side frame having a rectangular opening and simulating the back cover, the spine and the leaf edges of a book; providing a right side frame having a rectangular opening and simulating the front cover, the spine and the leaf edges of a book; providing a plurality of intermediate frames each having a rectangular opening and simulating the spine and leaf edges of a book; providing the loudspeaker; juxtaposing the plurality of intermediate frames with their openings aligned to form a tunnel; placing the loudspeaker in the tunnel; and placing one of the side frames on a side of the tunnel with the openings aligned. The method may further include: placing the other one of the side frames on the other side of the tunnel with the openings aligned for enclosing the loudspeaker.